Making homemade coconut water kefir

My local organic greengrocer started stocking this AMAZING coconut water kefir made locally in Australia by a company called Peace, Love and Vegetables.

They’re based in Byron Bay in NSW, and make a range of fermented products including sauerkraut, kimchi and of course, kefir.

Their kefir is handmade, raw and utterly divine. It’s fizzy and slightly sweet with just the right amount of tang, and we’ve been drinking it by the case full.

So they’ve inspired me to have a go at making my own. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I just didn’t feel ready before. Well now I’ve taken the plunge (possibly helped along by the fact that they ran out of stock this week).

So what is coconut kefir?

Basically, kefir is a fermented drink, usually made with milk or sugar water.

You add a special strain of probiotics to the liquid and leave it for around 24 hours, which produces a wonderfully fizzy drink with a slightly sour taste – an awesome alternative to soft drinks.

You can make your own kefir or you can buy it at health food shops.

We’ve been drinking coconut water kefir, which has a lovely coconut flavour that complements the fizzy tang beautifully.

What’s so great about coconut kefir?

Kefir is full of naturally occurring bacteria and yeast, which can actually colonize the intestinal tract, resulting in a healthier, stronger digestive system.

Kefir is loaded with vitamins, minerals and easily digested protein, and studies have shown that it can help to strengthen the immune system.

It promotes healthy bowel movements, improves relaxation and sleep, and can help to reduce food cravings.

And it tastes fantastic!

How do you make it yourself?

There are three ways (that I know of) to make your own coconut water kefir:

Use existing kefir as a starter

Use a kefir starter culture

Use kefir grains

I’ve used some of our purchased kefir to start a batch and I also recently bought some maintenance-free kefir starter culture from Green Living Australia. (I love maintenance-free. Perfect for a busy mum.)

I haven’t tried kefir grains yet, because I understand they can be a little fussy, but I’m sure it’s easier than it sounds, so I’ll work myself up to that one eventually as well.

In all cases, you just mix the starter culture or grains with your coconut water, and let it ferment in a warm spot until it’s the right amount of tangy and fizzy.

I’m still perfecting my homemade coconut water kefir technique.

I’ve made some batches that were overdone and underdone, and none of them have passed the approval of the kids yet (although they love the bought stuff).

What others are saying...

Me and my husband are making kefir from grains at the moment; it is not hard, but they are very rubbery if you accidentally leave them in the end product! We just use our kitchen windowsill and soya milk. Also tried gour but it looks and tastes too alcoholic for my liking.
Planning to try coconut milk next…

I was wondering if you could help me? I have tried several times and several different ways to make, raw coconut yogurt. No matter how long I blend it, it never gets smooth and creamy like dairy yogurt. I’ve watched all the youtube videos and read all I can find, but it comes out terrible. Everybody says how delicious it is and creamy. I used my “bullet” last week and blended and blended all day. I tried to use it in my green smoothie and ruined it. I couldn’t drink it. What am I doing wrong?

I don’t have a lot of experience with coconut yoghurt. The only recipe I’ve made is from Gena Hemshaw at Choosing Raw, which is an instant, unfermented yoghurt using young coconut flesh, coconut water, sweetener and lemon juice.

As to why your recipes are not working out, I’m not really sure. I would make sure that your coconuts are fresh and that the flesh you are using is white and firm, not pink or slimy, as this can mean that the fruit is going off, and might make it hard to create a creamy yoghurt. And make sure that all your other ingredients are fresh and good quality as well. Having a good quality blender is also important, and it really should only take a minute or two to get it smooth and creamy.

And sometimes it just take persistence. I know I’ve tried some things over and over until I get them right, and it can be hard to do that when they keep turning out wrong. Sometimes I get discouraged and leave it for a while, and sometimes I go searching the internet for clues. I highly recommend Gena’s recipe, so if you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it goes.

Thank you, Nicki. You are the only one I’ve found that will actually respond to peoples, posts and questions. I had remember seeing your responses, and that’s why I looked you up. My ingredients are always fresh. I thought the bullet was high powered enough to do the job. I might have to break out the major appliance, but I thought I had tried it already, maybe not. Thanks again. Cynthia Crowe

I have made water kefir, dairy kefir, and kombucha. Now (after having a bit of sensitivity to the tannic acid in tea (and kombucha), I’ve decided to switch to coconut water kefir. I have used Inner-Eco before and LOVE it so I found this site as I was trying to decide between grains or a culture (Inner-Eco). I have used grains and they are great if you have an animal you can feed the extras to. You can also use extra grains for cooking or smoothies. You do have to keep feeding them regularly or they will die so it isn’t for those of us who have lots to do. I have decided to try adding a bottle of Inner-Eco to a gallon of coconut water to see what transpires. Wish me luck! :)

Hi Nikki!
I only just learnt about kefir water the other day and it sounds like something that would be really beneficial to my diet so I’m going to give it a go and try it for a couple of weeks at least. I just went out and bought some raw, unpasteurised kefir water and I am really interested in creating more with that batch, as oppossed to using grains. I will probably purchase grains at some stage… but it’s not something that is abundant or super easy to get around here and these kefir bottles are quite expensive!
I am just wondering if you know what the optimal way for re-innoculating from existing kefir water would be…? I will probably use a mixture of mineral water and coconut sugar… as I heard that coconut water alone is best for strong, established cultures as the sugar content can sometimes be lower than optimal for more diluted strains? In your experience, what do you think the best ratio would be to start? Do i need to let the original kefir water warm up to room temperature first before combining with new solution?

It really is great stuff, so good for you for giving it a go. We went through a stage where we drinking litres of the stuff a week, but now our bodies aren’t craving it any more, so I guess they’re back in a better balance.

To be honest I was pretty slap-happy with it when I had a go at making it. I used fresh coconut water from a coconut to make it, and just poured in a slug of kefir from the stuff I’d bought. I think the coconut was in the fridge beforehand, as was the ready-made kefir, so I guess they were both cold when I started. And then I just left on top of my dehydrator while it ran until it looked (and tasted) fizzy enough (12-24 hours I think it was). And I only ended up doing it a few times, so I’m no expert on it :) Maybe the low sugar content is why mine didn’t work as well as I expected (see, you already know more about it than me).

I’m not running any courses at the moment. I’m not sure if you’re asking about classes in Melbourne (where I am), but if you are, I’ve started this handy list of raw food classes around Melbourne that might get you started.

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